On 2/14/08 Abode Air rendered a Certificate of Completion for an A/C unit for our friend Mrs. Arline Trupke, who is in her mid 80's and lives alone at her condo in Sun City. According to her neighbor, her A/C was working, fine, but Arline said she was convinced that the old unit should have been replaced by Abode Air.
Upon a visit to Arline's home, around the 7th of May we noticed it was very hot in her home, and she said that the A/C was blowing cold, but that the air was coming from the intake duct, and being restricted through the air filter. Upon confirming her statement we made a call to One Hour Air Conditioning who went out to inspect the unit to see what the problem could be. They determined that the unit was installed wrong.
At that time I called Abode Air, and spoke with the receptionist, who transferred me to the "boss" which only lead me to a voicemail recording. I left a message concerning the issue, and said that I would appreciate a call back, ASAP and that the situation was an emergency. I called back about an hour and received the same voice mail, and left a message. I then called again and told the receptionist the situation, and when I called back to explain the urgency of the matter, she had told me she sent out a technician to the house (without any verbal approval by the way).
I called Arline and told her to call me when they arrived so I could be there, to show the technician the warranty and the findings from One Hour A/C and Heating, however Arline's memory doesn't serve her too well sometimes, and she failed to call me when they arrived. I called Arline about 2 hours after I spoke with her, and she told me the men had shown up and had been there for about an hour and half.
After speaking to the technician, I told him that I would be there in about 10 or 15 minutes and would he please wait so I could show him the findings of One Hour A/C & Heating. I immediately left my residence and arrived at Arlines in about 15 minutes to find that the technicians had already got a check from Arline for $1152.80 and scattered like rats, to the bank, and suspiciously, cashed the check and converted it to a money order. I made a call immediately to Abode and the same know nothing receptionist connected me to her boss's voice mail.
I told him in the message, I was angry and would appreciate a call, and that if I didnt get a call back, and some answers to this scandalous work ethic, I would take action. Now, 4 working days later Mrs. Trupke nor I have never heard back from this company. Now, the unit is warranted for 5 years, and 10 years for the compressor, and 90 days labor, but since this issue was a result of poor workmanship during the installation, we are asking that Abode Air refund the full amount of the invoice to Mrs. Trupke without delay.
Interesting notes:
According to the statement on the invoice by the technician, he states that " Customer claims that another company inspected unit and apologized for messing something up"
This of course is bunk. It should have been obvious to a trained eye that this was an installation glitch.
No duct cleaning was ordered, since the ducts were cleaned about 6 months ago, but the technician did that anyway.
No parts were ordered, or needed to repair the install glitch, according to the invoice, and the arrival time stated 2:45 P.M. - 6:00P.M. The labor charges were $800.00, additionally the duct cleaning was $241.00 on top of that. So for 2.75 hours of worked time, Mrs. Trupke was charged $1,041.72 in labor. And to top it off they charged her $110.00 for a 16x30 air filter! (I think they are about $8.00 for a good one at Wal-Mart.)
It appears this company preys on the meekness of the elderly, and should be exposed and shut down. If we do not receive full compensation in a timely manner, we will investigate other legal, and consumer advocate avenues, including filing a claim from the Recovery Fund.
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